Mrs. McElroy said her husband, who called home every day from Iraq, even when he was on a convoy, told her that "he and his team over there kept joking that when they were old, crusty men sitting at the VFW, they were sure they were going to run into Marines who had served at Fallujah and Army guys who were in Baghdad.

"They were going to hold their beers high and say, 'We were at allthose places - and we were Air Force.' "